File – Construction workers work with rebar at a site on Tuesday June 6, 2023, in New York. On Friday, The U.S. government issues the June jobs report. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Another solid month of hiring in the United States is expected to be reported Friday, an outcome that would suggest no recession is in sight yet could make it harder for the Federal Reserve to succeed in its drive to cool the economy and curb high inflation. Employers are predicted to have added 205,000 jobs in June. A continuation of robust hiring would underscore the economy’s surprising resilience at a time when the Fed has jacked up its key interest rate by a sizable 5 percentage points — the fastest pace of rate hikes in four decades, one that has made mortgages, auto loans and other forms of borrowing significantly more expensive.

This photo, taken in New York, Thursday, July 6, 2023, shows Meta’s new app Threads. Meta unveiled the app to rival Twitter, targeting users looking for an alternative to the social media platform owned — and frequently changed — by Elon Musk. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta over its new text-based app called Threads. The offering launched this week as a rival to Elon Musk’s social media platform and has drawn tens of millions of users. In a letter Wednesday to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, an attorney for Twitter accused Meta of unlawfully using Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property by hiring former Twitter employees to create a “copycat” app. The move ramps up the tensions between the social media giants as Threads targets people seeking out Twitter alternatives amid unpopular changes Musk has made to the platform. A Meta spokesperson wrote on Threads that “no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee.”

FILE – Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference following the collapse of an elevated section of Interstate 95 after a tanker truck caught fire, June 11, 2023, in Philadelphia. Shapiro is trying to wrap up his first budget by the start of the new fiscal year on Saturday, July 1, as the Democrat works to balance Pennsylvania’s politically divided Legislature in perhaps his biggest test yet of his political skills under the Capitol dome. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro called on the Republican-controlled Senate to return to the Pennsylvania Capitol to finalize a state spending plan. The state government is nearing a week without full spending authority. On Thursday, the governor disputed Republicans’ accusations that he went back on his word about the $45 billion spending plan. Rather, Shapiro said it was a failure of the Senate and Democratic-controlled House to reach a deal on the final budget, and blamed Senate Republicans for sending the other chamber a bill that they knew might fail. Republicans haven’t said when they would return, but suggested the budget fight isn’t over.

Harrisburg, PA — This afternoon, Governor Josh Shapiro released the following statement ongoing budget negotiations:

 

“Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation with a full-time, divided legislature — meaning nothing gets done unless it can make it through our Republican-led Senate and our Democratic-led House. Over the past several weeks, I have worked with leaders in both chambers to craft a commonsense, responsible budget that makes critical investments in public safety, agriculture, economic development, public education, workforce development, relief for our seniors, and much more, as I laid out in my budget address in March.

 

“Last Friday, the Senate passed a responsible budget that delivers critical funding to our shared priorities and sent it to the House for its consideration. Now, we stand at an impasse largely over one provision of this budget, PASS Scholarships, a proposal I support that has been passed by the Senate but one that Leader Bradford has made clear does not have the support of the House, where it was voted down in committee on Friday.

 

“Over the weekend, Leader Bradford requested a legal memo from the Office of General Counsel, which confirmed that without enabling legislation setting up this program, my Administration legally cannot implement it. Knowing that the two chambers will not reach consensus at this time to enact PASS, and unwilling to hold up our entire budget process over this issue, I will line-item veto the full $100 million appropriation and it will not be part of this budget bill.

 

“While I am disappointed the two parties could not come together, Leader Bradford has given me his word — and he has written a letter outlining directly to Leader Pittman — that he will carefully examine and consider additional education options including PASS, Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC), and Education Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) as we work to address our public education needs in light of the Commonwealth Court’s recent education ruling.

 

“This is just one of several initiatives important to me that have passed in one chamber but not the other — initiatives like statute of limitations reform, an increase in our minimum wage, commonsense gun safety legislation, and the Fairness Act. It is incumbent upon leaders in both chambers to find ways to work together so that everyone’s ideas are carefully considered and advanced through the legislative process and we can deliver for all Pennsylvanians.

 

“Our Commonwealth should not be plunged into a painful, protracted budget impasse while our communities wait for the help and resources this commonsense budget will deliver.

 

“It is our responsibility to deliver a budget that addresses the most pressing issues Pennsylvanians are facing, and so with this commitment, I respectfully urge Democrats and Republicans in the House to now pass the budget bill that has been sent to them by the Senate and send it to my desk.”

HARRISBURG – Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R-Butler/Lawrence) issued the following statement after voting “no” to an irresponsible 2023-24 state budget.

“Apparently, Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable children are not a priority for Gov. Josh Shapiro. After supporting $100 million that would provide money to children from K-12 in the lowest performing 15% of schools in statewide performance standards, the governor changed his tune and has pledged to veto that item in the budget. That is totally unacceptable. The PA Award for Student Success (PASS) scholarship program would give students better educational opportunities. During his campaign, Shapiro supported school choice for our students, but when push came to shove, he sided with his Democrat colleagues and special interest groups.

“A total of 88 high schools in the state would have been impacted by the PASS scholarships, 33 of those schools have zero students who are proficient in math. Make no mistake about it, the governor’s priority is not our children’s education.

“The budget misses the opportunity to address many financial pitfalls Pennsylvania is facing. The plan is a 6% increase in spending over last year’s budget. This level of spending is unsustainable and would lead to a tax hike in the near future. While costs have gone up in all sectors of the economy, increasing a budget by this amount is not sustainable.

 

“This budget does nothing to address our structural deficit while using surplus funds to prop up our balance sheet.

 

“This budget falls short of being fiscally responsible. Protecting taxpayers will remain one of my top priorities.”

(Monaca, PA) Starting this fall, Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) will offer its nationally  renowned James M. Johnson School of Aviation Sciences Professional Pilot associate degree online.  Future pilots who enroll at CCBC can complete all the program’s academic courses virtually while  participating in flight training at one of nine partnering flight schools across the state.  CCBC’s premier partner flight providers stretch across the state from Beaver County to the Poconos, and  include:  

Aces Aviation 

AirQuest Aviation 

Fly Legacy Aviation 

High Flight Academy 

Laurel Highlands Aeronautical Academy 

Moore Aviation 

Moyer Aviation, Inc. 

Pittsburgh Flight Training Center 

Nulton Aviation Flight Academy 

Ravotti Air LLC 

“The United States continues to experience a vast piloting shortage with Boeing alone predicting a need  for 600,000 pilots in the next two decades,” explained Dr. John Higgs, Senior Dean and Dean of the  James M. Johnson School of Aviation Sciences at CCBC. “With high quality flight providers across the  state on board, we can offer lucrative career opportunities to more students and meet industry  demands broadly and quickly.”

Online courses for the degree include Foundations and Development of Aviation, Private Pilot Flight  Theory, Instrument Flight Theory, Commercial Flight Theory, Aircraft Engines & Systems, Aerodynamics  of Flight, Human Factors Theory, Foundations in Meteorology, and more. 

Graduates will also earn their Private license, Instrument rating, Commercial certificate, and Multi Engine and/or Certified Flight Instructor ratings. They will benefit from earning a Restricted Airline  Transport Pilot (R-ATP) Certificate, which allows pilots to join airlines at 21 years old, after 1,250 flight  hours versus the standard 1,500 hours (about 2 months), and gain seniority sooner. 

“CCBC’s online Professional Pilot program will allow students across the state to receive first-class  academic instruction from our faculty, while learning hands-on at a flight school close to home,” said  CCBC President Dr. Roger W. Davis. “This virtual portal gives students access to an education that can  take them anywhere in the world.” 

Pennsylvania residents will receive partial reimbursement for flight costs from CCBC’s PA Flight Discount  Fund. On a per flight hour basis, pilots-in-training will receive reimbursement toward flight costs  (currently $50 an hour). On average, students can expect to recoup 20% of the costs. 

Often called the “Harvard of Aviation due to its now prestigious reputation as one of the nation’s top  programs, CCBC launched its aviation school in 1969. More than 50 years later, the college has placed an  air-traffic controller in every tower in the country and a professional pilot in the cockpit of every major  U.S. airline through industry-approved curricula taught by aviation professionals and best-in-class flight  simulators. 

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)
(Photo/Associated Press)

Those waiting for the return of “Queen B” to Western Pennsylvania will have to wait a little longer.

In a tweet released Wednesday by the official Acrisure Stadium account, the facility announced that Beyonce’s “Renaissance World Tour” show scheduled for August 3 was postponed due to “logistics and scheduling issues”. Those issues were not specified.

Those who purchased tickets for the August 3 show automatically had their purchases refunded. A statement tweeted out later by Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey stated that the city was “disappointed” with the news, and that the city was in talks with the tour promoters for a potential rescheduled date.

Beyonce last performed at then-Heinz Field back on May 31, 2016 during her “The Formation: World Tour” in front of a crowd of 36,325. The stadium set an attendance record last month when Taylor Swift performed in front of a crowd of 73,117.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The man who gunned down 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue does not have a psychiatric or neurological disorder, and he was capable of forming the intent to kill, a neurologist testified Wednesday at the killer’s federal death penalty trial.

Dr. Ryan Darby, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was called by prosecutors to rebut defense experts who previously testified that Robert Bowers is psychotic and has brain abnormalities.

Bowers, 50, a truck driver from suburban Baldwin, was convicted last month of killing members of three congregations who had gathered at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. He also wounded two worshippers and five police officers.

The penalty phase of Bowers’ trial began June 26 and is expected to last several weeks. Defense lawyers are trying to persuade a jury to spare his life, while federal prosecutors are seeking a death sentence.

Last week, defense experts testified that Bowers was “blatantly psychotic,” with a long history of mental illness. Bowers’ lawyers are trying to show that his ability to form the legal intent to kill was impaired by mental illness and his delusional belief that he could stop a genocide of white people by killing Jews.

But Darby asserted Wednesday that mental illness did not appear to play a role in the nation’s deadliest antisemitic attack.

The neurologist told jurors he examined Bowers for more than three hours in May, finding the defendant to be calm, cooperative and keen on talking about Jews, immigrants and his belief in a racist conspiracy theory known as the “great replacement.”

Darby, who also reviewed scans of Bowers’ brain, disagreed with defense experts’ assessment that Bowers has schizophrenia — a serious brain disorder whose symptoms include delusions — as well as a seizure disorder and brain abnormalities.

He said Bowers’ toxic views about Jewish people were reinforced by antisemitic material he viewed online and were not the result of a delusion or psychosis.

“He saw himself as a soldier” in a war against white people, Darby testified. He said Bowers told him that if he had a chance to attack the synagogue again, he would kill more people.

HARRISBURG – House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) said Wednesday that the move by Pennsylvania’s House Democrats to approve a General Appropriations bill that would have a lifeline scholarship program line-item vetoed is the result of choosing political convenience over students.

“Democrats approving this budget is nothing more than an escape hatch for our friends on the other side of the aisle who wish to avoid a protracted impasse over a politically inconvenient issue that divides their own party,” Cutler said. “Today’s vote ultimately will leave students and families, who want nothing more than the opportunity for a better education and a better future, out in the cold merely for political convenience.”

Cutler also noted the budget bill in chief is a document of contradictions that is soured by recent maneuvering on the lifeline scholarship issue.

“There are positive things one can point to in this spending plan. It increases funding for career and technical education, workforce development programs, public safety, and property tax relief while maintaining our commitment to supporting public education, the PA State System of Higher Education, and increasing funding for Educational Improvement and Opportunity Scholarship tax credit programs. It increases support for our Rainy Day Fund, spends less than what the governor originally proposed, and is considerably more reasonable than the unilateral budget passed out of this House about a month ago by the Democrats on a straight party-line vote,” Cutler stated.

“On the other hand, this budget has a lot of concerning elements,” Cutler continued. “For instance, it does little to address our structural deficit and runaway and unaccountable welfare programs, which if not addressed, will threaten the long-term ability of our state to genuinely prosper.”

The General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2023-24, once enacted, will fund Commonwealth functions for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. Without the passage of an accompanying Fiscal Code, discretion over how these funds are to be distributed largely lies with the governor.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania State Police investigated 668 vehicle crashes resulting in three fatalities and 194 injuries during the five-day Independence Day travel period, which ran from June 30-July 4. Alcohol was a factor in 59 of the non-fatal crashes.

Troopers made 505 arrests for driving under the influence and issued 23,738 total traffic citations to include 845 individuals for not wearing seat belts and 210 tickets to people for failing to secure children in safety seats.

Table 1: Independence Day Weekend Crash Statistics

Year	Total Crashes	Fatal Crashes	People Killed	People Injured	Alcohol-Related Crashes	Alcohol-Related Fatal Crashes
2023 (5 days)	668	3	3	194	59	0
2022 (4 days)	649	4	4	170	52	0

 

Table 2: Independence Day Weekend Enforcement Statistics

Year	DUI Arrests	Speeding Citations	Child Seat Citations	Seat Belt Citations	Other Citations
2023 (5 days)	505	7,929	210	845	14,754
2022 (4 days)	515	8,769	297	986	14,257

 

More information on 2023 Independence Day enforcement, broken down by troop, is available here.

These statistics cover only those incidents investigated by the state police and do not include incidents to which other law enforcement agencies responded.

For more information on the Pennsylvania State Police, visit psp.pa.gov.